Sculptor's Cave, Lossiemouth, United Kingdom

The Sculptor's Cave is a sandstone cave on the south shore of the Moray Firth near the small settlement of Covesea, between Burghead and Lossiemouth in Moray. It is named after the Pictish carvings incised on the walls of the cave near its entrances. There are seven groups of carvings dating from the 6th or 7th century, including fish, crescent and V-rod, pentacle, triple oval, step, rectangle, disc and rectangle, flower, and mirror patterns, some very basic but others more sophisticated.

The cave is 20m deep and 13.5m wide with a 5.5m high roof and can be entered by two parallel 11m long passages, each 2-3m wide. It lies at the base of 30m high cliffs and is largely inaccessible at high tide.

The cave was first excavated between 1928 and 1930 by Sylvia Benton, who discovered evidence of two main periods of activity on the site: the first during the late Bronze Age, and the second during the late Roman Iron Age, between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Rob Brennan (2 years ago)
Didn't get to see the cave so no reflection on what it offers. Just a warning - there is no way down from the cliffs above so don't try it! Apparently the only way to get there is to walk along the rocks at low tide, but you are advised to check the times carefully so you don't get stuck. Better still, join a guided tour which takes you there by boat

Skelly Skelly (2 years ago)
Terrible road to get to it through a field

Laur Sage B. (2 years ago)
Lovely place and no people. We even saw dolphins x Make sure to check tide times before going down to the beach since it floods

Jane Reid (2 years ago)
A bit of a steep descent to the beach but the caves were fascinating. The beach itself is beautiful.

Bryce Mcgregor (3 years ago)
Decided to walk from Lossiemouth to Hopeman, about 7 miles. Amazing day, sun out during most of day. After leaving Lossie, great sandy part of the walk. Come to the Covesea Lighthouse and this and other caves and rocks. More lively sandy beaches then past a small golf course and up on the top of cliffs, some lovely beaches with great rock formations and caves. Great walk on to Hopeman. Lovely place to sit overlooking the harbour area. Headed back to lossie on bus. Would recommend the walk, although we did have great weather for November. ??

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Mark1792

Historic Site of the week

Rosenborg Castle

Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.

The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.

Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.

Sculptor's Cave

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historical Gems of Costa Verde

Historic Site of the week

Rosenborg Castle